The Napa Valley Film Festival takes place November 11 - 15 (Wednesday - Sunday) in the four walk-able villagesof Napa, Yountville, St. Helena, and Calistoga. Each year the festival features 125 new independent films, 300+ filmmakers and film industry guests, 150 wineries, 30 chefs, and an array of culinary demonstrations, wine tasting pavilions, and special events.

The Napa Valley Film Festival is produced by Cinema Napa Valley, a registered 501c3 non-profit organization headquartered in Napa, California. The festival's co-creators (and Cinema Napa Valley Founders) are Brenda and Marc Lhormer, producers and distributors of the feature film BOTTLE SHOCK, about the historic upset victory by Napa Valley wines over the French at the infamous 1976 wine-tasting competition in Paris. BOTTLE SHOCK premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival before going on to international theatrical distribution. The husband-and-wife team also ran the successful Sonoma Valley Film Festival from 2001 through 2008. In addition to producing the annual Napa Valley Film Festival, Cinema Napa Valley presents special film programs throughout the year and provides support to student filmmaking programs in Napa Valley schools. To learn more, visit www.napavalleyfilmfest.org.

2016 Napa Valley Film Festival Festival Award Winners

Winners include Katie Holmes’ “All We Had” and George Kosturos for “American Wrestler”

Napa Valley, CA (November 12, 2016) – The 6th Annual Napa Valley Film Festival (NVFF) announced this year’s juried and audience award winners at the Lincoln Theater in Yountville on Saturday, November 12, 2016. The Festival, held from November 9-13, screened the 120 films, including the 20 in NVFF’s core competition categories, throughout the four postcard-perfect towns of Napa, Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga.

“The Napa Valley Film Festival always has the highest level of film selection and the curation done by Marc and Brenda is absolutely exceptional,” said Michael Winokur (Filmmaker and NVFF Narrative Shorts Jury Member). “We always look forward to seeing some gems here, which made it a very difficult to make a decision.” Festival Co-Founders and Directors Marc and Brenda Lhormer added, “We are thrilled to have been able to share such wonderfully compelling stories from these amazing filmmakers with our audience. Getting to know these storytellers over the past few days has been an amazing experience, and we are so glad they were able to enjoy all that the Festival and Napa Valley has to offer.”

Each of the festival winners received a large format wine bottle from one of the festival’s esteemed Vintner Circle winery partners. The two winners of the 20 films that vied for the title of Best Narrative Feature and Best Documentary Feature, as determined by the respective juries, were awarded $10,000,presented by Meadowood Napa Valley.

Directors of the Narrative and Documentary films in competition participated in NVFF’s unique Artists-in-Residence Program where they received a six-night stay at the luxury resort Meadowood Napa Valley. The residency included master classes with industry leaders and networking opportunities with their peers and festival patrons at lavish receptions and winemaker dinners.

The full list of Juried Awards is below:

Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature presented by Materra | Cunat Family Vineyards, and with a $10,000 cash prize courtesy of Meadowood Napa Valley, goes to Heaven’s Floor.

Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature presented by Vitus Wines, and with a $10,000 cash prize courtesy of Meadowood Napa Valley, goes to Big Sonia.

Jury Award for Best Screenplay presented by The Hess Collection goes to Love Is All You Need?

For information or to buy passes for the 2017 festival slated for November 9 – 13, 2017, visit NVFF.ORG or call 707-226-7500.

About The Napa Valley Film Festival

The ultimate celebration of film, food and wine, NVFF lights up wine country at the most colorful time of year, November 9-13. NVFF presents over 120 new independent films and studio sneak previews in 13 beautiful venues throughout the picturesque towns of Napa, Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga. Attendees interact with over 300 filmmakers at screenings, and enjoy industry panels, wine tastings, culinary demos, winemaker dinners, Celebrity Tributes, the Awards Ceremony and Festival Gala, Opening and Closing Night parties and more. Check out highlights from the 2015 NVFF here. http://bit.ly/NVFF15Sizzle. The Napa Valley Film Festival (NVFF) is a registered 501c3 non-profit organization headquartered in Napa, California. Visit www.nvff.org for more information or call 707.226.7500